Call of the Sea

I really enjoyed playing this game. Great puzzles, a wonderful love story and a lovecraftian touch without the typical horror.

I love playing games inspired by Lovecraft, and most of them are true to the theme of horror that is common within his writings. However, this game manages to take some Lovecraftian themes and spin them in such a way that they become more mysterious than horrifying. More of an adventure than a run for your life scenario. This in itself is genius, and I'm grateful to the devs for heading that direction. On a game-play level this game feels very similar to Myst. (if you're not familiar with that series do yourself a favor and go check it out! All of them are here on GOG!) First person exploration and minimal to slightly difficult puzzle solving. The only time I had to google a hint was on Chapter 4, personally, but I know others who completed it without any hints at all. The atmosphere is absolutely stunning. The graphics are gorgeous, and the voice acting is spot on. The story itself is emotional and multiple endings are possible. This is the type of game that, though it can be completed in a few (maybe 6?) hours, you will want to take your time and explore. There are hidden items to find, and easter eggs if you have read any of Lovecrafts more popular works. I highly recommend this game! If you enjoy adventure at all, this is a great one to experience.

Don't be fooled by the lush visuals, this is not a Firewatch clone (not that there would be anything wrong with that, mind). It's a classic first-person adventure, cleverly streamlined for modern audiences. Call of the Sea tells a captivating story of mystery and romance, with strong Lovecraftian undertones, which are used mainly to anchor the supernatural elements rather than to inspire horror. Norah is a likeable, well-acted protagonist and the game's what-happened-to-this-intrepid-expedition plot unfolds at a brisk pace, through conveniently placed notes, scattered recordings, and Norah's commentary. The puzzles might give less seasoned gamers a slight pause but they are not designed to stall you for too long. Rather, they provide a sense of earned progression through the beautifully rendered areas of the island. Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by Call of the Sea. It's a very well-rounded adventure with a coherent yet not overexplained plot, amazing visuals and just the right amount of head-scratching. It could do with some additional optimization to run more smoothly, though. Played on Game Pass but I'd say it's worth the asking price.

Looks good, feels good, good story, and riddles of a moderate not to hard, not to easy difficulty level. I had 6h of fun and would definitly buy it again.

Wow, I never expected this to be so good! Everything feels so polished - the music is so good, the audio and ambience is great, the GUI and everything else is just 100% perfect! Nothing is cumbersome in this game, it has a perfect logbook that helps you along the way, so you have easy access to all information regarding both story and puzzles (it's divided in two parts that you switch between with two buttons). There is not much backtracking, only one puzzle were a bit annoying, but that's easy to forgive! You don't have any inventory, so there are no stupid inventorypuzzles where you try everything on everything - this game has more clever and varied puzzles, really really good and never repetetive or booring or too hard. The game has many different environments, you'll never grow tired of that it has in store for you, and you constantly get new pieces of the story as you advance. Probably took me 10-15 hours to complete, but I like to play games slowly and take in the athmosphere, specially when they are this good!